Monday, May 31, 2010

This is a great site to help with ideas for writing. The genie helps come up with a what if question. Students read the question and write. If they don't like the question, all they need do is click on the genie to get a new what if question.

Here are some of the questions listed. Cute and fun!

What if an opera singer was saved by a huge kid?What if a monkey tackled a recipe?What if a millionaire lost a job because of a school?

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Direct from the site..."CNN Student News is a ten-minute, commercial-free, daily news program for middle and high school students produced by the journalists and educators at CNN. This award-winning show and its companion Web site are available free of charge throughout the school year.

At CNNStudentNews.com, you'll find a wealth of teacher materials presented free of charge, including Daily Transcripts for each show, Daily Discussion questions, the Media Literacy Question of the Day, in-depth Learning Activities, downloadable Maps and additional support materials to help students understand the news.

In addition, the educators at CNN offer Discussion Guides for CNN documentaries and initiatives, including Black in America, Latino in America and CNN Heroes."

Friday, May 28, 2010

Jonathan Bird's Blue World is a wonderful site that explores the oceans. You'll find webisodes, study guides, sea stories and links. Check out the videos on sharks, sea cows, shipwrecks and killer clams. You'll find loads of videos and support materials to extend your study of the ocean.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Remember ZooBurst? Well I decided to give it a try today and made my first pop-up book. It's not really a book. It's just one page but I had fun trying it out. I've tried to edit the html code so it will fit but I have had some trouble with that. Check it out below and move the book slightly so you can see all three objects and their speech bubbles. I'll keep trying to make changes so it fits correctly!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

I don't know about you but I love this flash mob thing that I've watched on YouTube. I have great hopes that someday I will be someplace and I will see a live flash mob! Maybe I'll even join them! Watch this video and I am sure you will be smiling. Don't forget to keep reading this post though because I have something else to share about this video!

TeacherHub shares videos with suggested writing prompts to use in the classroom. Unfortunately the videos are usually from YouTube which is blocked at our school but the concept is so great I wanted to share the video and the prompts. Copied directly from their site, here are the prompts:

I've posted about Thinkfinity in the past and I hope you are using it for teaching resources. You can get to the site by clicking on the title of this post.

Thinkfinity has been redesigned and has some new features. You can now search by West Virginia Content Standard and you can bookmark your favorite finds. You can also share what you've found with other teachers. Watch this video to hear about all the changes on Thinkfinity. Just click here to go to the WVDE site to watch the video.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Want some neat games for kids? The Game Classroom has lots of interactive games for grades K-6. Click here to go to The Game Classroom. Check out this 3rd grade game targeting place value. Sorry that I couldn't make it larger for you but you can find this game by going to The Game Classroom and clicking on Grade 3. width="884" height="600">

The world is abuzz these days with news of a new Web2.0 tool. ZooBurst is an online digital storytelling tool. You can make a 3D pop-up book! To go to ZooBurst just click on the title of this posting or click here. You will need to sign up for the site and request a log-in.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

I spent lots of money several years ago to get a program that allows me to upload a PDF and fill it in right on my computer. I was thrilled to finally have a tool that saved me from printing out the form, filling it in by hand and then faxing it to the recipient. BUT...it costs lots of money. fillanypdf is a free web 2.0 tool that does the same thing and did I say it is free, free, free! Here's a quote directly from their site:

"FillAnyPDF.com is a website where you upload your PDF form and link to it so other people can fill it out and sign it online. No software is needed. Any PDF form can be used, even if it's not "interactive", so you can get started right away. You can even invite a group to fill out your forms and track the results. Anyone that collects signatures or filled out forms will find FillAnyPDF.com to be a valuable time-saving resource."

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Explore is an excellent site for getting great educational videos. This site reminds me a lot of United Streaming but free. Once a person finds a video they are interested in they can either download it to their computer or view it on the web. These videos fall into different categories such as: environmental, human rights, health, philosophy, etc etc. Another great feature is that the films are broken down by grade level and there is a great photo area as well!!Dkapuler, Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero, Apr 2010